Reynolds, an unemployed man who lived with his mother, had online discussions with a person he believed was an Al Qaeda operative. It was in fact Shannen Rossmiller, a former municipal judge in Montana and self-described "citizen terrorist-hunter" who was working as an FBI informant. Reynolds believed Rossmiller would help him get $40,000 to buy trucks to blow up oil refineries in New Jersey and Wyoming and part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.